I've been watching the recommendations come in and I watch some and I don't watch others but there was this one show that apparently only I thought was fantastic that was on about 10 years ago called This is Wonderland. Dramedy about the criminal justice system in Toronto.

Aired in both the US and Canada, but Canada got the better extended-edition of the episodes *shakes tiny fist*

*sigh*... I wish they would have made a movie.. had a huge cult following in it's day.

They did, sort of. Nick Knight (1989) was intended to be the series pilot, but wasn't picked up at the time. When it was made into a series in 1992 it got all new cast, except for John Kapelos (Schanke).

Nick Knight was played by Rick "Jessie's Girl" Springfield in the 1989 movie.

Ya, I know.. I really don't count that as a movie based on the series tho... the original "pilot" with rick springfield was just so lame. Geraint is much better :D

supayoda:Lost Girl, and I'm shocked more guys don't watch it. Bitten is a favorite as well.

Saving Hope, because... well...

[ilarge.listal.com image 850x1273]

Could be because when Syfylis channel started airing commercials for it here in the US, it seems kinda like a chick show. I've learned better since then, and prefer to find a way to watch the Canadian version nowadays. Plenty of reasons for a guy to watch it.

Blood TiesDaVinci's InquestForever KnightF/X: the SeriesSCTVThe Kids in the HallTodd and the Book of Pure EvilTrailer Park Boys (yes yes, I know it's coming back)You Can't Do That on Television

Shows that are currently airing:

ContinuumThe ListenerLost GirlMurdoch MysteriesSaving Hope

And on a side note, I've figured out what it is about Canadian TV I like so much: the producers generally don't give up on a show unless the core concept is just bad. The Listener is one of many where they did a fairly significant retooling between the first and second season because certain things just didn't work, yet the premise itself was good. If a US network had been producing it the thing would have been dropped like a rock, which is not just conjecture since NBC was co-airing it at the time and dropped it after 7 episodes. CTV however decided they could fix it, and sure enough they did: right now the show is preparing for its fifth season.

If US networks would spend the same kind of effort on shows that Canadians do then we'd have a lot more great TV shows here. Instead not only are shows dropped for being just marginally iffy in some areas, shows frequently get cancelled for "low ratings" that were caused by things completely unrelated to the show. The debacle with the Babylon 5 spin-off Legend of the Rangers springs to mind: TNT didn't pick it up due to "low ratings", completely ignoring the fact that it was due to the West Coast airing having been bumped by about an hour and a half from a basketball game running over.

I loved Murdoch Mysteries on Netflix - it's basically a Victorian-era McGuyver as a Toronto Detective. It could have been in New York or Chicago just as easily, but it's easy going nature fit well into a Canadian setting, and I loved the drop-ins (real life characters like Nikolai Tesla and A.C. Doyle)

There were quite a few good ones over the years...Friendly Giant - Probably the most mellow show to ever air on television. Just a guy hanging out with a giraffe and a rooster in a bagTwitch CityNorth of 60Corner GasKids in the HallForever Knight - only started watching it because I didn't have cable back thenThis Hour Has 22 MinutesThe Fifth Estateand who could forget Wok With Yan

I don't believe English Canadian TV exists anymore; we all watch American shows.Quebec, where the govt pumps money into the French culture machine, has lots of TV shows. Quebecois watch more American (mostly dubbed) English TV than French from France TV but mostly their own stuff.I think because as English Canadians we can so easily obtain culture from the giant culture machine next door, that we're stereotypically kind of bland and blase and that we're probaby a bit lazy, that we don't do much of our own stuff. Or just bad copies of better American stuff (Littles Hobo notwithstanding).The French have little choice; if they don't do it for themselves no one else will.

Most of the obvious faves are here but the guy (Chris Haddock) who did Da Vinci's Inquest also did this show (2006). I was seriously bummed a couple years ago when I got to the end of the 2nd season (on Netflix) only to find it had been cancelled. The official statement was lack of viewers but there were rumors that the Canadian govt didnt like the way it was portrayed and put some pressure on the studios to pull it. I thought it was much better than DVI.

Blood TiesDaVinci's InquestForever KnightF/X: the SeriesSCTVThe Kids in the HallTodd and the Book of Pure EvilTrailer Park Boys (yes yes, I know it's coming back)You Can't Do That on Television

Shows that are currently airing:

ContinuumThe ListenerLost GirlMurdoch MysteriesSaving Hope

And on a side note, I've figured out what it is about Canadian TV I like so much: the producers generally don't give up on a show unless the core concept is just bad. The Listener is one of many where they did a fairly significant retooling between the first and second season because certain things just didn't work, yet the premise itself was good. If a US network had been producing it the thing would have been dropped like a rock, which is not just conjecture since NBC was co-airing it at the time and dropped it after 7 episodes. CTV however decided they could fix it, and sure enough they did: right now the show is preparing for its fifth season.

If US networks would spend the same kind of effort on shows that Canadians do then we'd have a lot more great TV shows here. Instead not only are shows dropped for being just marginally iffy in some areas, shows frequently get cancelled for "low ratings" that were caused by things completely unrelated to the show. The debacle with the Babylon 5 spin-off Legend of the Rangers springs to mind: TNT didn't pick it up due to "low ratings", completely ignoring the fact that it was due to the West Coast airing having been bumped by about an hour and a half from a basketball game running over.

I think it has more to do with the Canadian Content laws. There has to be Canadian shows for there to be a Canadian network (20%. I believe), so the suits aren't so worried about the shows right out of the gate. Hell, they probably don't care if you just show Canadian women in wet bathing suits jumping on trampolines, as long as it satisfies content laws (as an aside....producers, I totally have a more expanded concept about the trampoline thing.....product placement and plus.....double plus even!)

Insecurity (which... Did anyone else see that? We stumbled on it and it was awesome)

Curling!

Growing up Red Green

/Michigander//no cable growing up

I _loved_ Insecurity. Having been reminded of it, I just looked it up to see if there might be a third season, but found it was cancelled, in part due to low ratings and in part because the province where they filmed disconinuted tax credits they utilized. That's too bad.

Rixel:I think it has more to do with the Canadian Content laws. There has to be Canadian shows for there to be a Canadian network (20%. I believe), so the suits aren't so worried about the shows right out of the gate. Hell, they probably don't care if you just show Canadian women in wet bathing suits jumping on trampolines, as long as it satisfies content laws (as an aside....producers, I totally have a more expanded concept about the trampoline thing.....product placement and plus.....double plus even!)

I don't know. If a US network was subject to the same rules (and somehow was having trouble with that 20%) they wouldn't bother renewing a troubled show, they'd just dump it and put some new show on the air instead. I imagine that even though Canada doesn't have nearly as many TV pilots floating around, there are enough that a Canadian network could take that approach if they wanted. And yet, for the most part they don't; that's not just by necessity, there's a fundamental difference in attitude there, one I desperately wish we'd adopt stateside.

There is a new show I saw recently called Mother Up with Eva Longoria playing a former music agent/hipster/party girl who had kids and now since she separated went to live in the suburbs. The Mom is such a bad parent she makes Homer look like Super Nanny.

Albeit the fact that all the sets are in Canada near Vancouver when the show is ostensibly set in various US locations with widely variant flora, fauna, and climate can sometimes be a little jarring for anyone that's actually driven around in either place.

Still a fun show, though.

// Sometimes catch myself humming the "Ghostfacers" theme to myself randomly for no reason, not sure why that's stuck with me for four damned years or whatever even though they got displaced narratively by the one-expression Dr. Horrible chick and her "Caliban from Narbonic lifted wholesale" storyline.